A western route would run via Meishan, Leshan, Ebian Yi, Ganluo, Xide, Xichang, Dechang, Huili and Guangtong.

It was considered to give access to important mineral deposits, passed through areas inhabited by ethnic minorities and had advantages for national defence.

[1] Because it was built as part of the secretive Third Front campaign pursuant to the view that it had to be kept hidden from China's geopolitical rivals, completion of the railway was not announced or promoted.

[3]: 134 The government published a pictorial in 1976 showing pictures of the construction and extreme terrain that required hundreds of tunnels and bridges.

On 14 August 2019, a major landslide occurred near Adai station, killing 17 staff involved in rescue and disaster relief.

Academic Covell F. Meyskens writes that the Chengdu-Kunming railway serves as a symbol of the Communist Party's technical ability to remake the Chinese landscape in accord with its own vision, comparing its function in this regard to the Ten Great Buildings.

[3]: 134 In 1974, an ivory sculpture commemorating the completion of the Chengdu–Kunming railway was presented as a gift to the United Nations and is displayed at the U.N. Headquarters in New York.

[11] The sculpture depicts the rail bridge across the Dadu River between two mountain peaks, with intricate details of passengers inside the train.

Soviet experts used to make a prediction that the railroad "will be turned into a pile of scrap iron by violent nature even after it is completed" in the route design stage;[13] An Imagery Analysis Service Note published by CIA in October 1971 made a statement that "[the railroad] will undoubtedly require more than the normal maintenance because of the rugged terrain it passes through" based on the detection of at least two replacement works of the destroyed tracks caused by landslides in the first year of its operation.

Multiple incidents of debris flow have occurred in the Niuri River Valley section especially between Niri and Suxiong and between Lianghong and Aidai.

The section of the old line between Huapengzi (south of Panzhihua) and Huangguayuan (north of Yuanmou) has been closed and flooded by the Wudongde Dam.